Ezekiel 5
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Ezekiel Dramatizes Jerusalem’s Fall
5 “Now you, son of man, take a sharp sword,(A) use it as you would a barber’s razor, and shave your head and beard. Then take a set of scales and divide the hair. 2 You are to burn up a third of it in the city when the days of the siege have ended;(B) you are to take a third and slash it with the sword all around the city; and you are to scatter a third to the wind, for I will draw a sword to chase after them. 3 But you are to take a few strands from the hair and secure them in the folds of your robe.(C) 4 Take some more of them, throw them into the fire, and burn them in it.(D) A fire will spread from it to the whole house of Israel.
5 “This is what the Lord God says: I have set this Jerusalem in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. 6 But she has rebelled against My ordinances with more wickedness than the nations, and against My statutes more than the countries that surround her. For her people have rejected My ordinances and have not walked in My statutes.
7 “Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: Because you have been more insubordinate than the nations around you(E)—you have not walked in My statutes or kept My ordinances; you have not even kept the ordinances of the nations around you— 8 therefore, this is what the Lord God says: See, I am against you, Jerusalem, and I will execute judgments within you in the sight of the nations. 9 Because of all your detestable practices, I will do to you what I have never done before and what I will never do again.(F) 10 As a result, fathers will eat their sons(G) within Jerusalem,[a] and sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments against you and scatter all your survivors to every direction of the wind.
11 “Therefore, as I live”—this is the declaration of the Lord God—“I am going to cut you off and show you no pity, because you have defiled My sanctuary(H) with all your detestable practices and abominations.(I) Yes, I will not spare you. 12 A third of your people will die by plague and be consumed by famine within you;(J) a third will fall by the sword all around you; and I will scatter a third to every direction of the wind, and I will draw a sword to chase after them.(K) 13 When My anger is spent and I have vented My wrath on them, I will be appeased.(L) Then after I have spent My wrath on them, they will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken in My jealousy.(M)
14 “I will make you a ruin and a disgrace among the nations around you, in the sight of everyone who passes by. 15 So you[b] will be a disgrace and a taunt, a warning and a horror, to the nations around you when I execute judgments against you in anger,(N) wrath, and furious rebukes. I, Yahweh, have spoken. 16 When I shoot deadly arrows of famine at them, arrows for destruction that I will send to destroy you, inhabitants of Jerusalem, I will intensify the famine against you and cut off your supply of bread. 17 I will send famine and dangerous animals against you. They will leave you childless, Jerusalem. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring a sword against you. I, Yahweh, have spoken.”(O)
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 5:10 Lit you
- Ezekiel 5:15 DSS, LXX, Syr, Tg, Vg; MT reads she
Ezekiel 5
New Living Translation
A Sign of the Coming Judgment
5 “Son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a razor to shave your head and beard. Use a scale to weigh the hair into three equal parts. 2 Place a third of it at the center of your map of Jerusalem. After acting out the siege, burn it there. Scatter another third across your map and chop it with a sword. Scatter the last third to the wind, for I will scatter my people with the sword. 3 Keep just a bit of the hair and tie it up in your robe. 4 Then take some of these hairs out and throw them into the fire, burning them up. A fire will then spread from this remnant and destroy all of Israel.
5 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: This is an illustration of what will happen to Jerusalem. I placed her at the center of the nations, 6 but she has rebelled against my regulations and decrees and has been even more wicked than the surrounding nations. She has refused to obey the regulations and decrees I gave her to follow.
7 “Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You people have behaved worse than your neighbors and have refused to obey my decrees and regulations. You have not even lived up to the standards of the nations around you. 8 Therefore, I myself, the Sovereign Lord, am now your enemy. I will punish you publicly while all the nations watch. 9 Because of your detestable idols, I will punish you like I have never punished anyone before or ever will again. 10 Parents will eat their own children, and children will eat their parents. I will punish you and scatter to the winds the few who survive.
11 “As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, I will cut you off completely. I will show you no pity at all because you have defiled my Temple with your vile images and detestable sins. 12 A third of your people will die in the city from disease and famine. A third of them will be slaughtered by the enemy outside the city walls. And I will scatter a third to the winds, chasing them with my sword. 13 Then at last my anger will be spent, and I will be satisfied. And when my fury against them has subsided, all Israel will know that I, the Lord, have spoken to them in my jealous anger.
14 “So I will turn you into a ruin, a mockery in the eyes of the surrounding nations and to all who pass by. 15 You will become an object of mockery and taunting and horror. You will be a warning to all the nations around you. They will see what happens when the Lord punishes a nation in anger and rebukes it, says the Lord.
16 “I will shower you with the deadly arrows of famine to destroy you. The famine will become more and more severe until every crumb of food is gone. 17 And along with the famine, wild animals will attack you and rob you of your children. Disease and war will stalk your land, and I will bring the sword of the enemy against you. I, the Lord, have spoken!”
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
